Stardew Valley: Five Tips from the Successful Farmer

Published by Chucklefish Games, Stardew Valley gives players a chance to live out their age-old farmer fantasies. Just as in real life, your duties include: planting seeds, finding a wife, and making money. (Or in this case, gold.)

If you're just getting started, here are five tips to follow if you want to become a successful farmer — straight out of the "Successful Farmer's Handbook."

1. Always watch television.

From the start your house contains a television set. Use it.

The TV will help you prepare for the next day — and for farmers, planning and preparation is what will make you successful.

When you use the television, there will be two channels:

Weather Report will tell you the weather forecast for the next day. This is helpful because you can adjust your plans for tomorrow accordingly.

For example, if the weather says, "A storm is on it's way tomorrow!" Then that means you don't have to water your crops the next day. You could upgrade your watering can the day before it rains so that your crops don't go unattended.

Fortune Teller will tell you what your Luck will be that day.

Luck is a stat that can affect a variety of things. It can affect the amount of resources dropped when foraging or mining, to the chance of finding treasure or catching rare fish. However, don't let it affect your planning TOO much. In the end, the channel will just help you explain why you've only been catching newspapers and broken CD's.

On occasions, you'll also get two more channels:

Living Off the Land will give you some tips related to foraging or farming.

Queen of Sauce will teach the player various cooking recipes.

When you finally upgrade your farmhouse, you'll get a kitchen. There, you can try out the various recipes you've learned from this channel. Some of these recipes are great for replenishing health, and some even offer stats benefits.A farmer's time is money, and food is a great way to add more time to your day.

2. Trade calmly and carefully.

You don't get a confirmation when you buy or sell. Please, take your time. Buying the wrong item or selling the wrong plant can set you back tremendously.

Be especially careful when you're selling — you don't get a refund and the difference isn't paid for. I can't tell you the amount of times I bought 40 blueberry seeds and accidentally clicked on the stack in my inventory, selling it all back.

I was only able to buy 20 afterwards...

3. Chests are your best friend.

Inventory space is one of the things every player needs to consider early on. The 24 pack sold by Pierre is a priority, but even then, you could hold it off by just using chests.

Did you know you could place chests on the first level of the mine?

Keep treasures in your chest and sell them to the Adventurer's Guild when you're done.

Next time you go mining, bring a chest and place it on the first floor.

Every five levels of the mine there is an elevator, simply take the elevator back up and place everything in your chest. Take the elevator back down when you're done and continue. Rinse and repeat.

Also, use chests to organize your materials. You'll want to keep some materials on hand early on, just in case someone in town needs it. Have a chest dedicated to treasures, and others to resources.

4. Time your days and seasons.

Like an actual farmer, you need to understand the importance of timing.

There are four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter, and each lasts 28 days.

Some crops can only be grown in their respective seasons. So when Day 29 hits, Day 1 of the new season, all the crops that are not a part of the following season will wither and die.

Each day lasts about 14 minutes real-time.

The day runs from 6:00 AM to 2:00 AM. Pierre's store opens at 9:00 AM, this gives you time to do some lawn maintenance and tend to your garden. And each town citizen has their own set schedule, learn them!

5. Adventure is good — don't be scared of the mine.

If you want to get anywhere in the game, you need ores, and ores are found in the mine. They are crucial when you want to upgrade your tools.

What am I saying? I'm saying that you need to mine.

The mine is a place where you will find rare artifacts and equipment. You can find better weapons, armor pieces, and even Dwarven Scrolls that you can donate to the museum. If you want to obtain the very best resources, you need to get in there and explore!

In Stardew Valley, you're more than just a farmer.

You're an adventurer.

I wish you luck in your success, players. These five tricks are essential towards making you the best farmer in the whole valley, follow them and I promise you'll be rolling in more gold than Smaug.